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RE: R14-1/2 ???

Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-08-07 21:39

Sylvain -

According to Francois Kloc, the only "R" designation Buffet used in France was R-13 for the model introduced in the early 1950s.

However, the catalogs issued by Buffet in the U.S. used "R" designations for key configurations. Even before the polycylindrical R-13 was introduced, Buffet sold its standard 17-key 6-ring instrument under the catalog designation R-13. Oddly, the designations went up by half numbers, with "1/2" indicating the presence of the left-hand little finger lever for Ab/Eb. Thus the R-13-1/2 was an 18/6 instrument, the R-14 was 17/7 and the R-14-1/2 was 18/7. It went up to R-16 or R-16-1/2 for the full-Boehm instrument. Buffet continued to use these designations in U.S. catalogs for a number of years. I remember seeing a catalog from the mid-1960s that had them.

All this was laid out in detail in a series of postings on the Klarinet board a few years ago. See http://www.sneezy.org/Databases/Logs/1998/08/000759.txt . A search on the Klarinet logs for R-14 will bring up other items.

The instrument on eBay has appeared several times over the last few months but has not sold. It's "new old stock" -- that is, an instrument made in the early 1950s but never sold or used. One indication of this the two small cork wedges under the sliver keys, which were always on new Buffets at that period. On previous appearances, the seller has set a reserve higher than anyone has been willing to pay -- as I recall, it's gotten close to $1,000. We'll see if it sells this time. The 111,000 serial number range was a good one for Buffet, and this one, being new, has a good chance of not having been tampered with. Still, I wonder why it didn't sell. You would think a music store going out of business would at least try to sell off its stock. It could be an instrument nobody liked. Still, the seller is offering a return option, so it might be worth going after.

Best regards.

Ken Shaw

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R14-1/2 ??? new

Sylvain

2001-08-07 20:01